Last Monday saw our first meeting of 2013. We had an informal session looking at the parish in 1901 using the population records from the Census.

Although just over 100 years ago, the world was a different place. As our timeline shows: the internal combustion engine had been invented only 15 years earlier (1886), radio had just been invented (1901) and there would be no airplanes for at least another few years. Britain was fighting the Second Boer War (1899-1902) but this probably had little impact on the lives of the people of Heddon.

Locally, Heddon on the Wall Station on the Scotswood to Wylam branch of the North Eastern Railway, about 1 mile south of the village, had been opened in 1881, avoiding the necessity of road transport and the dangerous crossing of the River Tyne at Ryton Ferry. The Men's Institute (Reading Room) in the village was built in 1898. The old Swan Inn cottage was demolished and the present pub was built in 1899, opened by Mr George Reay for Newcastle Breweries on Christmas Eve 1899.

In 1884, the vicar of Heddon had reported on village housing. 26 out of 64 houses only had one room. A family in one such house (16 feet by 16 feet 7 inches) had nine children. Average attendance at the village school was 133 in 1888, rising to 152 in 1891 with adoption of free education. In 1901 it was forced to close for a time due to an outbreak of diptheria.

Occupational Orders in Heddon on the Wall in 1881. From Vision of Britain.

A breakdown of occupations in the Parish in 1881 published by Vision of Britain is shown above. Little seemed to have changed by 1901. Most women are listed as Unknown Occupation presumably as they were 'only employed' in managing the households and looking after the children. Heddon Margaret Coal Mine, situated at the foot of Heddon Bank, was a major employer. It was bought by the Throckley Coal Co. in 1902 and was worked until the early 1930's. The Brick Works on the same site and Heddon's quarries accounted for many other men not employed by the farms.

Example page from 1901 Census (RG13 piece:4820 folio:82 page:9)

An example page from the Census is shown above. Many properties are unnamed as the concept of address was probably still a little vague and terraced houses may not have been numbered. The postman would presumably know who lived where. However, the list was mainly compiled in a logical fashion and the pages show the course taken by the enumerator around the village.

Of the first eight properties in the village that were visited by the 1901 enumerator, only the last two are identified as Mushroom Row. It is likely that all of the eight make up the two terraces that were located in the area now occupied by the modern library building. The 1897 OS map shows the north terrace (Mushroom Row) was made up of five houses and the southern terrace (Blackberry Row) of three. Six of the eight houses were recorded as having three rooms, the other two had only two. We think Blackberry Terrace was built in 1832, and Mushroom Row in 1854. It is said that Mushroom Row was so named as the terrace appeared to have been built overnight, so rapidly was it built. Both terraces were demolished in 1955.

Of the 45 people in these two terraces, 8 of the older males worked in the Colliery and 4 in the Brick Works. 22 were children, under 15.

Mushroom Row (circa early 1950's). Photo courtesy Mr K. Smith.

Blackberry Row.

Garden House, to the east, was divided into two properties: one of four rooms, and one of two. The larger house was occupied by Bartholomew Watson (67) described as Market Gardener, born in High Callerton. Two elderly sisters lived next door: Isabella Curley (88) and Dorothy ?Watkin (85).

William & Sarah Stephenson and family, Town Farm, Heddon on the Wall. Postcard franked 1907.

Next recorded in the village was Town Farm. The farmer was William Stephenson (66, Rudchester), his wife Sarah (56) and their children: Charles (27), Thomas Wardle (18), Florence (16, School Teacher), Hannah (14), W Emmerson (11) and Haswell (9). The eldest sons both worked on the farm. There is more information about the postcard here.

This article was written with the kind help and encouragement of Ted Burt, John Gillott & David Potts of the Heddon on the Wall Local History Society. Without the assistance of these, and the authors referenced below, who know about railways, I would still be wondering.

The Wylam wagon-way was built around 1748 to a five foot gauge, and was used to transport coal from Wylam to Lemington where coal staiths stood to load shallow-bottomed keel boats for shipment down the River Tyne.

The closure of the Wylam Colliery in 1868 resulted in the wagon-way having very little use, until the Scotswood to Wylam railway line opened in 1875-76, following much of the wagon-way route. Heddon-on-the-Wall Railway Station was added 5 years later in 1881. The platforms were staggered each side of a level crossing, that to the east, on the north side of the double track, used by trains traveling east towards Newcastle.

This 'Northern' line also included a spur which ran into the yard of the Margaret Pit and Heddon Brick Works. This so-called 'triangular junction' can be seen in the map below, west of Heddon Station. Only the east side of this junction is retained today in a strip of woodland and existing field boundaries. The west side has been ploughed out within an arable field. The road that runs steeply downhill south of Heddon village is named Station Road. It ends at Heddon Haughs Farm on the line of the wagon-way. Large scale maps show that the colliery line ran parallel to the main line, passing directly behind the Newcastle platform.

Heddon-on-the-Wall Railway station, situated near Heddon Haughs Farm, was closed in 1958, and finally demolished in 1959. The current Heddon Haughs farmhouse, south of the wagon-way, incorporates the original Station-Master's house.

The 'Northern' railway line was closed in 1966 and the tracks were removed in 1972. This part of the route was then turned into a public bridleway and cycle track.

OS 1:2500 (1898)

Since I first came across it, I was puzzled by the branch line (shown below) that bends south away from the wagon-way close to the east side of the 'triangular junction', running through Cathouse Plantation. It is clearly a disused railway line or wagon-way, built-up on colliery waste. In one place, the farmer has cut through the bank to provide access between the neighboring fields. The line appears to have terminated on the bank of the River Tyne, just west of the Tide Stone.

None of the old OS maps shows the existence of a track along this route, making it likely to have been in only temporary use. I wondered at first if it had provided a way of disposing of pit waste form Heddon Colliery, perhaps by dumping it in the river.